Foreign Ministry, Armenia
April 17 2009

The Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the
BSEC member-states held in Yerevan

On April 16, the 20th meeting of the Council of the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs of the member-states of Organization of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation was held in Yerevan under the Chairmanship of
Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian. Delegations of 12
member-states, 9 observers, as well as representatives of partner
countries, the BSEC structural institutions and international
organizations also attended the meeting.

The agenda of the meeting included wide range of issues concerning the
deepening of economic cooperation between the countries of the Black
Sea region, the improvement of the efficiency of the organization, the
strengthening and enhancement of cooperation of member-states within
bilateral and multilateral formats, the promotion of EU-BSEC
partnership, as well as the joint efforts aimed at the reduction of
the consequences of global financial crisis.

In his opening remarks, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
summarized the results of the activities of Armenian six-month
Chairmanship-in-Office. Minister Nalbandian expressed hope that this
meeting will provide wider opportunities for practical steps aimed at
the promotion of cooperation between member-states, enhancement of
multilateral cooperation in the area of economy within the region, as
well as on the international arena, improvement of the efficiency of
Organization’s activity.

Armenian Foreign Minister mentioned that during the Armenian
Chairmanship-in-Office of the BSEC more than 50 events were held `
Ministerial meetings, conferences, seminars and sessions of the
working groups.

Edward Nalbandian stressed that the Armenian Chairmanship highly
appreciates the results reached through active partnership in the
areas of transport, energy, science and technologies, small and medium
entrepreneurship, health, tourism, education and culture.

Minister Nalbandian also mentioned that among the priorities of
Chairmanship-in-office, Armenia focused on the enhancement of
cooperation between the BSEC and international organizations. In
their speeches, heads of the delegations of the BSEC member-states and
BSEC Secretary General highly appreciated Armenia’s activity as a
Chairman-in-Office of the organization and mentioned that the BSEC’s
activity in in that period was has been active and effective.

During the Ministerial session, Iran and Jordan became sectorial
dialogue partners of BSEC.

At the end of Ministerial Council the ceremony of handover of BSEC
Chairmanship by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Quliyev took place,
which was followed by joint press conference of Foreign Minister of
Armenia, Deputy Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Albania BSEC
Secretary General.